Journey Through Another World
by Alabaster-Flynn
Summary: Alabaster and Elpama have been best friends for about two years now and a lot has happened over that time. Elpama has been working on an invention which bends the world and reveals it's mysteries, but during it's first full test, something goes wrong and Alabaster and Elpama are sent to a new world rather than seeing their own. Rated M for language.
1. The Dragon's Trick and the Voice

**So, this story isn't going to be mentioning the theme of the story at all, it is mainly backstory, so just stay with me. Again, constructive criticism is appreciated, but other than that, enjoy the chapter!**

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Between two homes with miles of distance between them, there stands a half-dragon who has discovered a new trick, excited to show his friend what he has found. His friend is nervous about what he is going to do because of the reckless nature of some of his previous performances.

"Hey, uhh… Alabaste? What're you doing?" I call into my screen.

In the middle of the room shown on the computer screen stands a teenage boy with his unnaturally white chest bared. Since he isn't wearing his hood which usually adorns his head, his untrimmed, white hair is revealed, barely casting any shadow onto itself causing a strange effect which blurs his hair together. Below his unnaturally colored midsection, his skin-tight, dark grey pants cover his legs to where his socks cover his feet. White wings are fully unfurled behind him, almost reaching each opposite wall of the large room. The mysterious complexion is caused by the trait of a lack of pigment in the body his father had; similar to where he got his wings. The boy stares at the camera with a huge smile on his face, making me nervous about what he is itching to show me.

"Guess what," Alabaster responds, shaking his wings and slightly bouncing excitedly, his grin somehow growing bigger with those words.

"Well, based on the fact that your wings are completely extended and that you are very excited, even though you are wearing yoga pants, you are about to show me some trick you've been working on, and probably shouldn't be performing inside the house. So, I'm gonna say this right now, bring this outside before you damage something," I say.

Alabaster's wings droop slightly as he says, "come on, Elpama, these pants are needed for this perfectly safe, trick. I've been practicing this for a while, I know what I'm doing, and nothing will get broken. I promise."

I sigh. He isn't going to go outside no matter how I ask, so I might as well let him show me it now and stop arguing with him. "Okay, fine, show me what you will and then I have something to tell you, as long as you don't break your laptop."

Alabaster gives a small giggle before grabbing a handful of something white and tossing it into the air. Immediately after he throws his hand, he jumps and twists his wings around his body, launching himself into a spiral. The air being thrown like that causes the white, are those beads, to be launched around his body, cutting through the air like knives. Alabaster then tucks his legs up to his body as he does a bunch of short quick flaps of his wings to keep himself and the beads spinning and, more importantly, airborne. The trick looks really cool, with the white beads causing a cocoon of streaks through the air around the pulsating, spinning white and grey blur. This goes on for about 15 seconds before it starts to die down and the cocoon begins to lower. When the first beads hit the ground, they go rolling outward to the depths of the room, never to be seen again. Alabaster unfolds his body to land, but when he plants his feet, he almost loses balance, saving himself by throwing his wings open, launching the beads still in the air upward and through the room. One bead flies toward the screen and hits it with enough force to knock it over.

I can't see much after that, but I hear beads bounce off the walls and the desk the screen was sitting on. Alabaster hurries over to pick up the computer after regaining his balance, his hair blown into a mess and a grin still painted on his face, "Cool, right!"

I laugh and say "yeah, that was really cool. How did you do that? It doesn't seem like that should be able to work, but I just saw it happen!"

Alabaster backs up to where I can see his pants, which are now spotted with white beads. "Really strong magnets… and quite a bit of skill, timing, a-and these wings." He slightly flaps his wings, careful to not hit anything, even though they are pulled closer to his body.

"How long have you been working on that trick? It seems like it would have been a lot of trial and error, but I don't have wings, nor do I know all about aerodynamics, so, based on your knowledge of performance, maybe it would have been easy," I say.

"Nope! Definitely not easy, this is one of the hardest tricks I have ever done! I think my last tricks did help me to do this one though. Some of my flying tricks definitely helped with spinning the magnets while I was in the air, and keeping me from falling. I think that they spin fast enough that they could block something heavy being thrown at me, seeing how easily it knocked over my laptop, even after the bead was slowed down that far."

"I'm sure it would hurt to be hit by one of those things at that speed. If I was with you right now, you would need something to block this book I want to throw at you," I grab one of my thick, leatherbount notebooks from a nearby table and heft it up to the screen, "because that would hurt more than any bead. That was completely dangerous! Please, if you do that again, leave out the magnets, okay?" I recall how much could've gone wrong between a bead going rouge and flying through a wing, or even hitting anywhere would hurt pretty badly, or if he spun just a little too slowly or quickly, he would fly out of control.

"That was not dangerous! I've done it plenty of times in the past week to know that I won't get hurt by it again. Sure, the colored magnets are a bit harder to control, but it looks so much cooler than black magnets. With these white ones, it looks like I'm a ninja swinging my ninja sword, Hya!" He does a chop with an open hand and a sound effect.

"You are so childish. One of these days you are going to get hurt, and there won't be anyone there to help you. And besides, a ninja is able to control their direction while they are flying, I didn't see you doing any controlled movement."

"I can move any way I want, I just didn't do it because I was inside," he shakes his body to the left and flaps one wing. "And I can't control the beads very well when I move around, at least not the colored ones. When I try it, all the beads fall and then I can't do it as well and I start falling. Don't laugh! It's no fun spinning on the ground and scratching up your back and wings."

"I'm sure it'd be fun to watch, as long as your back doesn't start to turn as red as your face is right now."

"You know that my face only turns this red because of the white scales under my skin." His heritage gives him both skin and scales, although the scales are much thinner than his dad's, they still provide lots of protection compared to the skin. "Hey, isn't there something you wanted to show me?" he changes the subject.

"Yeah, sure. It doesn't look like much, so don't say anything until I explain it." I reach under the desk and grasp a cardboard box, setting it on my lap, before pushing my screen back, so I could place it in front of the camera. I hesitate before putting it back under the desk where it was. "Actually, you know what? No, I'm not going to show you it just yet. It still isn't quite finished, maybe a day or two until it is working, and then at least another day until the bugs are eliminated. And, I don't think this is something that should be revealed online, you're going to want to come here to see it. So, after school next week, come over and I will show you what I've done. 'Kay?"

"O… kay, so I'm not the only one who has been doing exciting stuff. I'll come over Friday night. Same house?"

"Oh, no. We moved, but I still have this white screen to chat in front of." I reach behind me and tap on the screen by the wall. "I'll send you the address when we get off, make sure no one sees you, the people here aren't used to half-dragons either. When you get here, I'll give you the house tour and then we'll get to what I've made!"

"Why'd you get my hopes up if you are just going to change your mind?! I was really hoping that you would show me something equally as cool as what I showed you," he pouts.

"Y'know, what? If you keep acting like a child, I won't show you what I've made; no child should know about this creation. Though, I promise that it will definitely be worth the wait. Aside from this trick, what've you been doing? Anything exciting, or news on-" I stop talking.

"News on what?"

"Never mind. Well, what've you been up to?"

I notice that he wants to know what I was about to ask, but I can't say it, there is some feeling that is stopping me, like something bad is going to happen if I say it. I know that is ridiculous, how would something bad happen if I only ask a question? Despite how much I want to, I still can't ask it.

"I've just been playing some games, browsing the web. Oh, uh, speaking of the news, have you seen it recently?" I'm glad he let it go

I just give a small laugh and smile. The news has been showing this object which can transport small items atom by atom through large distances, basically a teleporter, although it is really slow.

"You're hiding something and I want in." Alabaster says.

"No, it's nothing, I'm not hiding anything." I say, somewhat truthfully.

"Answer me this, does it have anything to do with the thing under your desk?" He pushes

"That thing isn't done, and no, it will do something completely… mostly different," if he found out too quickly, that would ruin the big surprise I have planned. "That's all I'm saying."

"_Come with me_."

"Did you say something?" I am confused by why he would have said that.

"What? Oh, no, I didn't say anything. It might've been someone from outside." He offers.

"No, it sounded close, like in-this-room close." I look around, but don't see anything out of place, everything is where it should be. A small table stands next to a chair in the middle of the room with a half-finished puzzle on its top. Beyond that, there is a wall of bookshelves with books and DVDs neatly lining the shelves with bookmarks separating some of the book's pages. Nearby, there is a second desk from the one I am sitting at, which holds a few of my notebooks, a calculator, cups for pens, pencils, and paintbrushes, as well as a shelf with markers sorted by hue and brightness. In the center of the desk, taking up the majority of the room, is my toolbox, open and ready for any project. Behind the white screen, the door remains shut, with no evidence of it having been opened recently. The walls hold photos, sketches, and pins for hanging more pictures up. There is no way to know what is happening beyond the curtain over the window, so there is no way to disprove Alabaster's suggestion. Next to my computer stands a desk light for my late night activities, reading or drawing or writing something down. Aside from that, my glasses case is holding my glasses close to me, in case I do need to use them, which isn't very often.

"Well, if you hear it again, mind where it comes from, in case it is someone inside the house," Alabaster says and I nod in agreement.

We talk some more, nothing very interesting comes up before we decide to separate.

"It's getting kind of late, and I should work on the… the thing some more before I go to bed," I say, still worried about what that voice was.

"I still don't know why you're being so secretive about it, but I can't wait to find out! I'm gonna practice some more before going to bed, so, see ya later!" Alabaster hangs up rather quickly.

I sign off of my computer before placing it off to the side and grabbing my project from the box under my desk. It's a somewhat large, white box with a digital screen on one side and some buttons and wires protruding from either of the others. It looks completely boring, but it will function as I want it to. This box will help me with the mystery of the disappearing souls. How could it not? I have done many tests with the ideas of technology implemented within the circuitry and they have all had promising results, but nothing will work until everything is hooked up together and timed perfectly. I grab a handful of the other scraps thrown in the bottom of the box, open my heavy, leather notebook and start recreating some of the sketches I made of the circuits I will need to finish. I get one more built and installed before putting everything away.

While I am getting ready for bed, my thoughts drift off. _This project is very promising, I only hope that I will be able to finish it before its big debut on Friday. If every day is as productive as it has been, I shouldn't have any trouble getting it finished by then. Yeah, only a few more circuits to wire and test, and then it is going to be finished! Nothing to worry about. With my couple of studies into this technology, this will be done in a few days, and then I can test it out properly!_ I finish getting ready for bed and lay down, thoughts of the future after this is finished carrying me to sleep.

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**Not too long, especially for an introductory chapter, I hope you enjoyed reading it though! Hopefully, I can get the next one up pretty soon so we can get into this thing, but I'mma go, bye!**


	2. A Bit of Training

**Another background chapter. I think this is important for understanding the personalities of the characters though.**

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After I hang up on Elpama, there are a hundred and one thoughts running through my head. What did she want to ask me? Did it have something to do with my dad? No, she is comfortable talking about the disappearances, even about someone as awful as my dad. I replay the conversation in my head as fresh as it is in my mind, "_Aside from this trick, what've you been doing? Anything exciting, or news on-_". It is something personal to me, something that wouldn't be publicized, but all my family is accounted for, mom is out in the town, my brother is working, my dad is still being my dad, no pets, why am I assuming it's a person? We haven't ordered any information or lost anything, so I have no idea what she was asking about, very frustrating! I decide to go out to the backyard to practice some of my tricks, y'know what? Tricks makes it sound like I'm a dog, I'mma call it _moves_! I decide to go practice my _moves_ in the backyard for a while, as I told Elpama. First, I'm going to clean up some of the beads that went flying around the room.

I jump away from my desk and land in the middle of the room, beads dropping off my pants from the sudden stop. _These colored beads really don't have the same power as the black ones, falling off from a small jump as that. I wonder if I'll be able to pick them all up using the electromagnet_. I grab a copper wire coil from a shelf on my desk and unroll it. At full length, the strand reaches about 20 ft., cut to wrap around my leg from foot to hip which is what I plan to do with it. I pull the leg of my modified yoga pants up as far as possible, revealing the white skin underneath and knocking the magnetic beads off the pants. Next, I take off my socks to wrap the wire around my heel and keep it attached as I coil it around the rest of my leg. Once the entire limb is coiled in the wire, I fall onto the ground and reach under the bed for a sheet of metal so I can complete the circuit.

_Will the colored ceramic magnets be attracted to the electromagnet? They don't have as much power as the uncolored magnets, but I've never tried to pull either of them from the outskirts of my room. I guess we'll find out_. Another gift from my dad is that I can control electricity and plasma from the air and my body. Elpama, using her knowledge of magnetic fields, was able to help me turn my body into a magnet by strengthening the vibrations of the electrons in a specific part of my body, or something like that. I can focus my electricity to my skin and it turns into a magnet. Along with this magnetizing trick, I looked at how electromagnets work and got some wire to make myself into an even stronger magnet.

I place the metal sheet on the ground before planting my feet on top of it. I could do this move without the metal sheet, but if I touch the coil with my other leg it feels really weird, like I'm being burnt and electrified, which I technically am. But, maybe since the electricity is flowing faster through the copper coil than out of my foot, it doesn't feel as strange from the metal sheet? Whatever the reason, I use the sheet because otherwise it feels weird if I don't. With my feet connected to the metal, I focus an electric current through my right leg –the one wrapped in coils– and immediately, the copper heats up. I haven't activated the magnetic properties just yet, so I bring the electricity to outside the scale layer, drawing some of the nearby beads forward. To finish off the magnetic pull, I send as much energy as I can through the skin of my leg and the beads from all around the room draw toward me. The nearby beads have attached themselves to the wire casing by the time they have been drawn out from under the furniture.

_Hehehee! It works! This magnet is super cool! I still don't understand how Elpama found out how I can magnetize myself, but it works even on these weaker ceramic magnets!_ Once all the beads have stopped rolling across the floor, I stop focusing the electricity through my leg and allow the beads to fall onto the floor, some rolling back into the depths of the room. I take the wire off of my leg and toss it onto the desk before scooping up as many beads from the ground as I can until I start to grow bored. It took me long enough to finish cleaning up my room! It is dark outside by the time I step onto the grass, luckily we still have the lights that line our acre of land, so I can have a reference point while I'm flying.

Our yard is rather plain looking, a flat field with no hill or feature before the wooden fence that divides our property from the outside world. On the inside of our fence lies the strip of lights which, as I mentioned, will serve as a reference for me while I practice my _moves_ so I don't land in the nearby forest and get hurt. The dim field is shining with the nighttime dew as summer approaches and keeps the air warmer for longer, allowing me to practice in yoga pants and bare chest. I walk off of our in-ground deck into the middle of the field, doing a little spinning dance using my wings for a bit of a warm-up before flying. Once I make it to the center of the field, I squat low and launch myself as high as I can before extending my wings to catch the air around me. _Even after flying so much, being up here in the air is still the greatest thing ever!_ I bring myself up a good distance before dive bombing the yard, electrifying my body for when I pull up, the lightning arcs off of me and onto the ground.

_Crack_! The yard illuminates brightly for a few feet from the foot tall strand of electricity. "_Hehehe!" That's one way to get rid of built up electricity, the most fun way that is!_ I've had enough of a warm up by this point to get into practicing, so I go inside to grab a speaker from my room to play noise into the yard. I land on the ground and walk back to the deck to shake the moisture from my feet. After my feet are dry enough, I open the glass door and go inside.

When I get to my room, I take a quick inventory before I grab the speaker. My desk sits on the far wall from the doorway and holds a stack of shelves on its leg, each holding random junk which I sometimes use, including some tools thrown into the top one and a coiled bunch of wire which I could've sworn I left on top of the desk. Now, on top of the desk lies my laptop, a small dent on the case from where the bead had knocked it earlier, and next to that, a pair of scissors. Standing to one side of the desk is a tall dresser stuffed with clothes, most of which have rarely been worn. Coming past that is a wall made of glass, the view shown on the other side is of a vast forest filled with trees, broken only by a large lake in the distance. The other side of the room holds my bed right next to the window, the view allowing me to sleep very easily. Coming around toward the door is my nightstand, holding cords, candy, and a little desk light in case I really need to see from my bed.

The wall above the nightstand holds a dream catcher and a few photos of my brother. I don't really believe in the power of the dream catcher, but I like how it looks hanging in my room, like an eye which can only see the evil spirits, as the person selling it was saying. My brother is kind of quiet, thin, looks like any other kid, unlike me, he tries his best to keep us all safe, kind of like the father figure for me, definitely better than my real dad. I love my brother and if anything were to ever happen to him, I don't know what I would do, because killing the person who did it to him would be too easy of an end for them. Our family would not be complete without him, we all hold our places with each other, so we each mean the just as much to either one of the others.

Just in front of the door is my big speaker along with a guitar I never really learned how to play. I make sure that nothing is plugged into the speaker, and grab my laptop from my desk as well as the connector and charging cord for them. I pick all of that up and hold it close to my body as I make my way back through the house and outside. I hook everything up just outside the door, setting my laptop on one of the deck chairs next to my speaker, putting on one of the nosier playlists of rock before jumping back into the air.

Just as with swimming, there are professional swimmers who do so many of one exercise before testing their speed and then doing so many of another exercise. And then there are people who swim for fun, doing a few of no particular exercise before seeing how cool it feels to swim fast or dive deep. I would say this also goes with flying, one person would do exercises and see how they improved, and I would just have fun, seeing how fast I can feel or how close I can cut. An interesting thought, but sometimes I actually see what moves can be done repetitively and will train my body to help me move faster or longer, those days feel good, but I also dread the idea of only doing that, so I mix them in with a bunch of fun days.

I fly up high into the air and dive back to the ground to pull up at the last second, rising from just inches away from the ground, sometimes throwing thin electric arcs downward. After doing that for a while, I practice some of the cooler tricks I've learned how to do over the years, a human lightning ball, something that can only be described as "firework", that kind of thing. Not long after that, I start to grow tired, so I decide to finish off with a drift around the yard, a bit of flying at top speed super close to the ground. _If Elpama were here, she'd definitely yell at me!_ That thought draws a laugh out of my throat which is instantly caught in the wind.

_"That looks so fun!"_

I lose my concentration at those words from nowhere. My body freezes as I try and think of who could've said that, _My mom shouldn't be home yet, neither should_\- I am quickly broken out of my thoughts by the side of the house filling my vision. It is hopeless to try and pull away at this speed, but I am just about able to turn myself so my arm takes the impact. My vision goes red from the pain growing from my arm. The last thing I feel is the ground hitting my back before I lose all sense of the world.

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"Hey, Mrs. Flynn! What's going on?"

"Alabaster flew into the wall while flying last night. I came home and found him passed out on the deck" Alabaster's mother responds. "He must've been flying at top speed when he hit the wall, because the doctors say his bone has broken, albeit just a crack."

"What!" I exclaim. Usually Alabaster's scales protect him from getting hurt, having an impact that breaks bone is extremely worrying.

"Mhmm, I think he also hurt his head, because he is _still_ asleep. I'm on my way to tell Cry about this, I'm sure he'll want to know. On my way back to the hospital, do you want me to pick you up? He'd be happy to see you once he wakes up."

"Yes, I want to come! Of course I would! Having a broken bone is terrible! I have to get some stuff together, call again when you are about twenty minutes away. Thanks for telling me!"

"Okay. I hope he wakes up soon, it's concerning with him being asleep for so long. Bye." She hangs up. _Why was she out for so long to have only come home now_?

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**I think this will be the length of most of the chapters. I don't really like how this one advanced, but it just fit with how it was being written. I hope that the next chapter will be when the adventure starts, so lets get into this! Thank you for reading, and, if you have anything to say, leave a review or PM me. Until next chapter, I'mma go, bye!**


	3. From the Hospital

**I'm back! I figured that I should finish the next chapter and get it posted, half because I haven't posted in a week and half because I am really enjoying this. As a reminder, at the end of the last chapter, A Bit of Training, Alabaster ran himself into a wall. Enjoy!**

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Having been woken up by the ringtone of my phone, I am not feeling very restful this morning. Combine that with the stress from finding out Alabaster has gotten himself a potentially serious injury, and I should not be working on important circuitry which could cause some fatal bugs in the project if done incorrectly. Despite these problems, I have a schedule I plan on keeping; I need to if I am going to keep myself from going crazy thinking about the potential future this project could create.

As soon as Mrs. Flynn hangs up, while still in my pajamas, I move to the room with my project and get to work. I try to focus on assembling everything, but my mind won't allow me to not think about it. _What the hell was he thinking?! How could he have flown himself into the wall? What stupid tricks was he trying to do this time? I need to focus on this, no Alabaster; he's a problem for later… This wire goes here, that one- How could he possibly fly himself into the wall?! _That process continues for a few hours, since I'm not going to school today and neither of my parents can tell me off for it, because I don't know where they have been for these past years.

Sometime between my thoughts, my phone rings again, I was worried it was Mrs. Flynn calling to tell me she's going to be here soon, but it is just the school calling to tell "my parents" that I'm not there. I hung up immediately after I knew who it was, because I was mainly worried about Alabaster and partially focused on the wires, I had no patience for stupid phone calls right now.

After a bit more time has passed, I hear another ringtone. When I can, I pick it up and am greeted with Mrs. Flynn's voice telling me that she's about 30 minutes away and that the doctors are saying Alabaster is still unconscious. Something is definitely wrong with him, and I still can't figure out what could have brought him to be so careless as to fly into a wall.

With 30 minutes left, I finish the circuit I was installing and inspect what I have accomplished. _Oh my god! I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I didn't realize how much I finished! The whole thing is done!_ I spend a few minutes going through the checklist and, as I thought, everything is in it… everything except the safety systems (What I didn't notice during my inspection, though, was that one wire was connected to the wrong system, but it was probably nothing). I throw in the most important safety parts that don't take much time to finish, and hurry off to get ready.

I grab any shirt and the first pair of pants from my closet, trying not to ruin the organization of it. I take a quick shower and finish the rest of my morning tasks, ending with 5 minutes before Alabaster's mom will be here. I was only working for about two hours today, and somehow I was able to complete the remaining circuits to make it work. Though I planned on finishing installing everything by the end of the week, two hours of concentration was all I needed. I was planning on putting in the safety systems before testing it, but the only ones I didn't put in are the systems that check if everything will work as intended before running it, probably unnecessary, but I had them planned out in case I decided I needed them.

Since I've brought it to a working state, and I can't wait to run it, I throw a jacket over top the box and grab the bundle and rush outside, hoping to bring it to Alabaster's bedside. _I hope she won't mind the large gift I am bringing to the hospital_. The sky is still dark, but the air is warm. Most of the houses in sight are still dead, and the only sign of life on the street is the car parked outside my house with its interior lights lit. Inside the four-door vehicle, in the driver seat, there is a woman with short, black hair sitting next to Alabaster's brother, Cryona, Cry for short, who is staring down at the glove box and fidgeting with something in his lap. Cry has white hair similar to Alabaster's, and his facial features are extremely similar, but the big difference is the pigmented white skin that doesn't hide any scales. He didn't inherit as many dragon features from his father as Alabaster had, with, I think his only extra trait, being his speed, in both physical and mental quickness. It is almost impossible to mistake one for the other, but you can easily see the resemblance between each family member.

"Hi, Mrs. Flynn. Has Alabaster woken up yet?" I ask hopefully.

"The doctors are saying that he's _still_ unresponsive. He must have had a really hard impact if he still hasn't woken up." She responds.

A broken bone is usually not very serious, Alabaster's bones may not heal though because of his unnatural parentage, so that crack may lead to the loss of a limb or irreparable damage. Not to mention the damage to his scales which have never needed to be replaced and may not be able to heal either. Everything that happens is new ground for both science and him, this could be life threatening, or this is all an overreaction and it will all be fixed by a simple cast, but we are all prepared for the worst.

"_Ugh, what the hell were you doing, Alabaster!_" I say to myself before asking, "Where should I put this?" Lifting up the box.

"Well, we don't have any room left in the trunk, do you think you can carry it?" Mrs. Flynn gestures to the back seat.

"Oh, yeah, no problem!" I open the back door and sit behind Cry. The car starts forward before I am able to get settled or buckle my seat belt. She doesn't really show it, but she must really be worried for Alabaster. She _was_ out until four in the morning, and in that time she was absent after he hit the wall, Alabaster's injury might have gotten worse; she might be feeling a bit of guilt from that.

Most of the ride is pretty quiet, all of us deep in thought. _How could he still be unconscious after so long? Even for his first injury, he is not handling it well if he isn't up even now. From how he is, it seems like he hit head first into the wall, but from his injuries, his arm was the only thing hit. It isn't like him to stay down after falling, something is going on. Maybe if I use this in his room, I could figure out what that is! If he still isn't awa~_ A ringtone sounds from the previously quiet speakers, startling us from our thoughts. Immediately, Mrs. Flynn reaches for the button to pick up the call and is greeted by a male saying that Alabaster is now in a normalized sleep-like state unlike the previously knocked-unconscious sleep.

"I asked the doctor to keep me updated on Alabaster's condition," Mrs. Flynn explains after thanking the man and hanging up.

"So, he is improving?" I am excited by the news.

"Slowly, yes. He has been growing less unresponsive since I brought him there. It's hard to believe that a broken arm is all that this is about," She supports my suspicion of another force.

"Thank goodness! I was worried he'd been completely unresponsive the whole time, at least he is not getting worse."

"Yeah, definitely," Mrs. Flynn says.

"Hey, isn't that 'the project' you've been working on?" Cry cuts in.

I notice that he seems eager to change the subject, and Mrs. Flynn seems to catch on as well, "Yeah, tell me a little about that box."

"Okay, so I've been thinking about how to make this for a few years now…" I start talking about the process from day one, years ago when I first heard about the advances in teleportation technology, all the way through to understanding how to design it to material cost, and all the difficult decisions I had to make to fund this. I am talking about my project from then until we pull into the hospital parking lot, where we then quiet down and walk into the lobby area.

The lobby is somewhat large, and, surprisingly, very average-looking. Going straight from the door, there are paintings hanging on the white wall to the right, up to the curved admission desk where a nervous man stands. He doesn't look like he can be any older than 20, and clearly isn't comfortable working at the desk. Left of the admission, there is a doorway that leads to some abandoned cubicles, probably used as the call center during the busy times of the year. Past that lies the doors to some bathrooms separated by a leafy plant. The space to the right of the entrance is used for seating and waiting, as it's filled with chairs, lights, magazines, and a couple colorful vases and plants. On the far end of the space is a double doorway which I can only assume leads to the patients. Because we are the only other people here besides the admission assistant, we have no trouble getting to the desk.

As Mrs. Flynn takes control of signing us in, I get a few seconds to think. _They seemed to be really interested in the box. That's great because I am also really excited to get to use it. But, how did Cry know about my project? I haven't told anyone about it before today, well yesterday I told Alabaster a slight amount, but that's the only time I've mentioned it. Is he able to read minds? No, that's definitely not it. Maybe he just assumed it was a project I've been working on._

"Alright, are you ready?" Mrs. Flynn drops the pen back on the paper and hustles us toward the double doors.

"Hey! Uhh, one visitor at a time please. There's another little, like w-waiting room just past his room if y-you'd like to sit there, while waiting" the young man behind the admission desk calls to us before we make it to the hallway. "A-and, I don't know if you can have that box in here." I can barely hear him, _we'll see_.

We stop in front of the room the half-dragon is rumored to be resting in, and Mrs. Flynn asks who should go in there first.

"I think you should be the first one to see him, he'd be most comforted by your presence," we all know Cry is lying to make her happy, but she agrees and rushes in first. Cry leads me down the hallway to the other waiting room. It isn't very exciting, even compared with the hospitals near my town. There are a few rows of seats, every couple separated by a side table with some magazines, flowers, and even some board games for the really bored guests. There are two glass tables with a couple decks of cards, crayons and coloring books which are each covered in scribbles of colored wax. The walls have no windows, but are instead covered in more paintings and a couple of TVs. There are a few mysterious stains near the walkway which I try to avoid stepping on as we make our way to a set of chairs.

"I don't think being idle is a great idea for me right now, but we don't have much of a choice do we?" Cry fears his accelerated thinking in a boring room.

"We could play a board game, at least until the next one of us gets to go in," I don't really understand what he was referring to when he said what he did. "It could get your mind off of things a little."

Cry slowly nods and we sit at the table with the lesser amount of wax on it as we set up a game of connect 4. I go first and the game starts. As we play, we also start to talk.

"So, does this hospital also treat kids?" I ask, referring to the crayon wax covering everything.

"I don't think that all this is the work of children," he plants a chip with an inappropriate drawing somehow drawn in quite a bit of detail onto the small face.

"Oh, haha, okay," I laugh at how close the people here act to the people around my town.

Cry wins the first game. We play another round and it looks like I'm going to win until he places another chip and makes winning impossible, so it ends in a tie.

"Okay, this game is too slow," Cry ends the game by letting the pieces fall once more and placing it back in the box.

"I feel like some of these marks are new," I smell alcohol on the breath of whoever said that. I find another couple of Alabaster's friends when I turn around, Minna and Juraed.

The girl who spoke up, Minna, has milk-chocolate skin under her crop top and ripped jeans. Her body is extremely thin and short, but holds some stiff muscles and a six pack. She has a silver necklace and ring for jewelry. Minna's hair is dyed in blue and purple curls today, falling down mid-back and held out of her eyes by some string around her head. It seems like her look changes almost every day, her hair color definitely changes every week, and her glass contact color is a daily application. Today her eyes are blue. Minna is standing next to her much taller boyfriend, Juraed, who has the same skin color as her as well as some muscles layered on top of a little body fat. His clothing is a plain white tee and jeans, and his short dark curls match his dark eye color. Juraed is only slightly taller than me, but shorter than Alabaster.

Despite what their physique would tell you, their bodies are completely opposite of each other. Minna is able to digest and get over the effects of foods 3 times faster than an average person, making it really difficult to gain any fat or get sedated from drugs. Anything Juraed eats is converted into fat and if he takes medicine, he feels the effects for days, no matter the strength. He started going to the gym when he was 14, usually running on the treadmill to get rid of his body fat, and once that was gone, mixing strength training in his days. He only eats things that don't have many sugars, and I have only seen him drink water. Minna only started going to the gym when she became Juraed's friend, and that was only because she had nothing better to do, but she eventually found it fun and started going to get some muscle weight while being near her boyfriend. She eats and drinks anything she wants, and sometimes she is able to drink enough alcohol to get drunk for a few minutes.

"Hi, Minna, Juraed," Cry greets the new arrivals.

"So, I heard he broke a bone," Minna says.

"Yes, Alabaster fractured a bone in his arm, but he is healing. Now, what do you guys want to do?" Cry changes the subject. _He clearly doesn't want to talk about Alabaster. Maybe he's angry, but why would he be?_

"Okay, uhh, how about we play Monopoly?" Minna suggests.

"No! Monopoly takes too long, and it's boring," Juraed says.

"I like Monopoly, though," Minna pouts. "Um, Uno?"

"Sure, let's go with that," Cry says.

Juraed grabs the cards and we sit around the table, playing a few rounds of Uno before Mrs. Flynn comes into the room. "The nurse told me to send someone else in. Cry, do you want to go?"

"No. Elpama, you go in, I'm not ready to see him yet," Cry says.

"I don't know why you guys are making such a big deal of this, it's not like he's on his deathbed," Minna says.

Cry releases the anger he's been withholding, jumping up from his chair and standing in Minna's face, "We have no idea what will happen to him, this broken bone very well may bring him to his death!"

"Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that that could happen to him. I just thought it was like any other broken bone," Minna is scared of Cry. He has never gotten angry at any of us, and none of us have ever seen him get mad.

Cry sits down at one of the chairs against the wall and stares at one of the paintings, a landscape of plains with a storm approaching. I don't know if it's my imagination or what, but I think I see his hair start to stiffen as if it is electrified. I don't think he got any electricity "gifts" from his dad, but he is rather secretive. Leaving the drama, I grab my jacket and box and make my way back toward Alabaster's room.

"The next visitor. Hello," The young nurse greets me when I walk in. "Oh, what's that you got there?" She points at my box.

"It's a box," I say, not really wanting to talk to this stranger about my project.

"Well, what's inside that box?"

"Some circuits, it's not dangerous or anything, if that's what you are asking."

"No, dear, you can't have that box in here unless you tell me what it does," she pushes.

"Okay, fine. It is a box that shows a picture on this screen," I move my jacket and show the nurse the blank display. "It's like a TV, I guess. It doesn't do much more than that."

She thinks for a few seconds and spreads her hands like she's given up, "Alright, I'll let you have it in here, as long as you make sure you don't leave it. I don't want to clean up any mess it may make."

"I promise I won't leave it here. Now, can I have some privacy?" I want to talk to Alabaster, and see if this thing will work.

"I'll let you have 10 minutes," She leaves.

I walk over and sit in a chair next to Alabaster's bed, throwing my jacket onto the ground and setting my box on my lap. Alabaster's body is covered in sensors and the monitor on the other side of the bed is showing lines of bars and mixes of letters and numbers. I have no idea how to read half of the equipment, but I know the heart monitor is showing his heartbeat at a normal pace. His skin is the normal white it always is, so I can't tell anything by that, but his eyes don't seem pained, so he seems to be in a natural sleep, as the doctor had said over the phone. He doesn't look like he's even close to waking up any time soon, even after this many hours of sleep.

I've never talked to an unconscious person before, "Hi, Alabaste," I don't know how to handle the silent response. "Uhh, I finished the project early, and I brought it with me." Silence. I decide to stop talking to avoid the awkwardness of speaking to an unconscious person. _I'm going to find an outlet so I can plug this in, maybe it will be able to help wake you up._ I scan the wall for an outlet, and am able to find an open outlet at the end of his bed.

I move my seat from the chair to the floor by the outlet and plug the box in the bottom hole. Immediately, the screen lights up to a dark grey, and with the screen's revival, something on the bed stirs and disrupts the silence.

"Hi! I heard you finished your project!" Alabaster sits up and his grey eyes stare into me, attentive and playful. His wings are pulled close and slightly around his body. Now that more of his body is revealed, I notice that the outside of his arm is bruised, something I've never seen on him. I assume his scales protect most of his blood vessels, and now that some scales are broken, they were broken as well.

"You're awake! Oh, wow! You've been unconscious for so many hours, they're going to be so excited to hear you are awake!" I can't control my excitement.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm awake. Now, what's the "project" do?" He doesn't show any sign of drowsiness from having just woken up, not in his eyes or his actions. I find that weird, something is wrong.

"Well are you alright? You broke your arm, and some scales with it, and you were unresponsive for the longest time," I say.

He tries to lift his broken arm, but quickly gives up and cringes in pain, "ugh, yeah, I'm fine. Now what is that box?"

"Okay, ya see this screen?" I tap the screen and he nods, "when I push some buttons, if there is a question or something that is unknown that is about the area, be it ghosts, unknown events, or any general mysteries, it shows a clue or even the answer for what happened or the question there."

"So, why isn't it painted blue and green with flowers?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well it is The Mystery Machine, so it should be colored like it," he's back to acting like his normal self.

We both laugh. "I'll make sure to carry a hippy box to all the places I plan to go, just for you," I say.

"No, not a hippy box! The Mystery Machine box," he explains.

"Well, I actually brought it in here to use on you, because, you know, you were unconscious and all, and we didn't know why you were asleep for so long," I say.

"I'm not asleep anymore, so you don't need to use it, but you should anyway. I really want to see what that thing does!" He shakes the bed a little in excitement.

"If you insist," I start pressing buttons around the machine, starting it up and getting it ready. My body starts shaking as I approach the first full test, making it somewhat harder to press some of the buttons.

"Is it almost done?" Alabaster says.

"A_nd_, it's done. Are you ready to see the first test?" My body is shaking in anticipation, much more violently than it would if Alabaster were still asleep.

"Yes I'm ready! Do it!" Alabaster seems as excited as I feel.

I hit the initiation button to send the current through the box. The screen flashes white and then grey as it tries to define what it's found. After about a minute, the screen starts to show a definite image. Close to the screen, I can see a pudgy girl, about my age with dark hair and an excited expression in her face. She is crouching in a hospital room, staring at the screen. I quickly realize that is a mirror of me and fear it hasn't worked right, but that changes as the background begins to come into focus. On top of the blur that mirrors the bed, there lies a small pink blur where Alabaster would be. _What is that?_ I stare at the blur, waiting for it to focus so I can tell what it is, but the screen explodes in a white light. I hear a surge of electricity from behind the box and the room's lights dim.

I don't know what it was, the quickly flashing colors, a sleep gas leak, or something even more mysterious, but my eyes grow heavy and the dim room goes dark and I pass out onto the floor. The last thing I hear before losing consciousness is a childlike laugh from the bed.

* * *

**Did the box work right? Why did Elpama pass out when the electricity surged? Why wouldn't Alabaster wake up? What will happen next? Some of these may be answered in the future chapters, so stay tuned! For now, I'mma go, bye!**

**P.S. When I was writing this chapter I thought of The Hunger Games Mockingjay, with Katniss being trapped through the most important part of the story and coming out to find everything is fixed, I dunno. Alabaster didn't have to wait until Friday to see the project, maybe I'm just crazy. Thank's for reading the chapter though!**


	4. Tall Tree Forest

**First true fanfiction chapter! From here in, it should be almost all ****Pokémon. I've never written a fanfiction story, or even a chapter of it, so I hope it's alright. The recent chapters have ****lengthened**** to about 4,000 words, so make sure you are ready to read that much!**

**I hope you like the ****chapter**

* * *

What do you do when you don't have a clue as to where you are? All your memories are intact, you can remember where you last were; you just aren't there. Last second you were there, but you disappeared, and now you don't know where you are. Maybe you panic. Maybe you think about what could have happened, and maybe you are next to someone who feels like your best friend, but they don't look anything like them, they have had their species changed from their normal human, dog, dragon self, and are now a little cat or horse, or maybe something that doesn't exist… like a Cyndaquil or Minccino. Maybe you've been asleep and are only now waking up. What do you do when you don't know where you are?

* * *

_This isn't a dream, I can only think, I can't sense anything. I can't hear or see, I can't feel or smell, and I taste only black. What just happened? What is happening now? I don't feel any heartbeat, though if I did, it would probably be beating triple it's normal rate. My name is Elpama, I am 17, 5'9", I was in bed this morning and woke up to a phone call. I finished my project and brought it to the hospital where I saw Alabaster whose arm was broken last night. He woke up, only when I plugged my box into the wall and he showed no sign that he had been asleep._

_When I activated the, _haha_, Mystery Machine… I heard that laugh - wait wasn't there a laugh just before I passed out? Yes, there was a laugh, but from what? I think I'm coming out of this… state, I can hear a very faint rustling, and I made a laugh. Well, maybe the surge was able to make the box do something it wasn't supposed to? Whatever the case, my project is probably completely destroyed now. _

I hear a faint voice, though I can't make out what it is saying. _It sounds like it is calling something, a name maybe._ The voice gets louder and it starts to sound like Alabaster's voice, but a little different. _It probably just sounds different because I'm not fully awake yet._ Suddenly, I regain my vision and the world becomes a deep, dark red. The voice becomes clearer, it is Alabaster calling my name. He is close, but the origin of the voice keeps shifting. _He is looking for me, and his voice still seems a little strange, a little higher maybe._

I feel like I can move a little. When I try, my arm loses some stiffness that I wasn't able to feel before. I take a slow, deep breath before trying again, noticing a fresh scent, trees, a forest. I move my arm and my also eyelids start to lose some of the darkness they had before, letting me see a dark grey-red. I'm starting to wake from my thoughts. Alabaster has stopped calling for me and I hear someone run toward me through a layer of leaves. It sounds like they are running on all fours though.

In the next movement, I am able to move my leg, slowly loosening my body. I hear someone sniffing the air near my head, like a dog smelling its surroundings. I feel something touch the top of my ear. After a few minutes of trying to move, I feel my eyelids start to rise and the world becomes a mosaic of greens and blue. _I'm definitely in a forest, and the sky looks so pretty._

A pale and blue face then fills my vision, "Hi!" They startle me, but my body is stuck to the ground. The most I can do is sink further into the leaves I rest on. The voice belongs to Alabaster, but the face doesn't. The furry face has a long, mouse-like snout. The top is a pale blue and the bottom is an almost white yellow, the yellow also forms a circle into the blue around its closed eyes. I recognize it as a Pokémon, Cyndaquil if I'm remembering correctly.

"Have you seen my friend Elpama?" They ask me. "I just got here, I don't know how, but we were using this box that exploded and then the world went black before I came here and saw this forest. I didn't see you sleeping here, because you were asleep and covered in leaves, but did you see her?"

I still can't move, I'm trying to figure out what happened, how this happened. The box was only supposed to show the mysteries, not transport anyone! Maybe that was because of the teleporter circuit I used, but that doesn't explain how it was able to bring us to another dimension! And why'd it bring us here? Maybe we'll find the reason Alabaster was asleep for so long here, because this isn't all happening because of him hitting the wall. Then there was that voice I heard in my room. Are they connected?

"Hello? Are you ignoring me? I don't like it when people ignore me," the Cyndaquil backs away and sits down on a pile of green leaves.

I am able to sit up, but I feel small. _Since Alabaster is now a Pokémon, should that mean I've also turned into one? I mean I feel small enough_. The pale Cyndaquil is staring expectantly at me, his arms crossed over his yellowish underside.

"I-I, uh, um, ahh," I struggle to find my voice. It doesn't sound anything like I'm used to and my mouth feels weird.

"You were saying," the Cyndaquil pushes, his foot starting to bounce impatiently. "I don't have all day."

"Actually, um, I-I am Elpama," I am able to say.

"No, you're a Minccino, stop saying you're my friend. Now where is Elpama," there's no doubt that this is Alabaster now.

"And you're a Cyndaquil, now stop impersonating Alabaster," I retort.

"How do you know my name? And, more importantly, I'm a semi-dragon, not a Cyndaquil," he doesn't catch on.

"Alabaster, somehow The Mystery Machine brought us to this world, and now we aren't in our normal bodies. I think the first question we need answered is, where in the world are we?" I say.

He thinks for a second and stands back up, walking over to me, "Okay, fine. If you are Elpama, and we were both brought here by your machine, then how do we get back?"

"That's not important right now. If I'm remembering correctly and guessing correctly, the wild is dangerous, and if a wild Pokémon comes by, we have no way to defend against them if they decide to attack. We need to find the way to a safe place," I explain. "Now, do you know where this is?"

"It's a forest of course. If you are asking if I know where this forest is, then I have no idea. I have never played a first person Pokémon game," he lies down on his back, leaving me sitting above him. "It's getting dark."

I notice that the shadows on the ground have grown quite a bit longer since I had woken up, showing that it is indeed growing darker. "I guess there's no hope in finding somewhere completely safe today, so we should find some simple shelter for tonight."

"Why not just sleep here?" He stares at me.

"We are right in the open here. If another Pokémon finds us, we'll be knocked out, because they know how to use moves and we don't," I look out toward the trees that surround us, amazed at how tall they seem.

"Oh, wow! That's a really tall tree!" Alabaster's eyes follow mine. "Wait, did you say moves? I know some moves."

"You've been a Pokémon for less than a day, and you are saying you already know how to battle?"

"Yeah, well, if I try this," he jumps up and begins to run toward a tree at a full sprint.

"No, don't!" I try to call to him but it's too late. Alabaster turns his back toward the tree and launches his body at it, successfully performing a tackle that rattles the tree. Seconds later, green leaves start to rain down from the treetop, littering the brown leaves on the ground with patches of green.

Alabaster walks back over to me and merrily spins to a stop, "I told you I could use moves." When he did his spin, I notice that he has some bark sticking in his back from tackling the tree.

"Do you know how reckless that was? What if there was a strong Pokémon, or any Pokémon in that tree? We still don't know how to battle, and if there was something in the tree, they would definitely defend it!" He needs to stop doing these childish things.

"Well, maybe I want to fight. It would be really cool to attack another Pokémon!" His mouse-like back legs start bouncing as he shifts his weight to his short front legs.

I am almost shouting, "No it would not! It is dangerous! Now, more than ever, you need to stop acting like a child! This is a survival situation, we could die in this world and never see our friends again!" He settles down and focuses on me. "Now, if you want to help, I'm going to find somewhere safe before it gets too dark."

"Okay. Lead the way," he says, his tone showing none of the previous excitement, and instead shows a little fear. He stands slightly hunched over like a normal Cyndaquil.

I listen to the forest, seeing if I can hear anywhere that might be safer than another. I can hear a surprising amount, I assume it's because I became a Pokémon with better hearing, a Minccino, although I don't know what a Minccino is. I hear some chirps from some bird-like Pokémon from some distance away, I hear leaves crunching on the ground, something is cracking nearby, maybe a tree or some sticks. The first place that sounds somewhat safe I hear is some running water, at least there we would be able to drink when we get thirsty. I start walking toward the sound of the water, taking note of the route through the trees we take, in case we need to come back for whatever reason.

On our way to the sound, there is one tree that really stands out. The tree is surrounded in a small mound of many colors of sparkly stones. Alabaster notices this tree and grabs one of the larger stones from the top.

I swat the stone from his hand, "Why are you touching the stones? They were clearly piled here for a reason. What if whoever did this notices and follows us?" I pick the stone back up and look at it. This one is a somewhat transparent yellow rock that sparkles brightly, even in the dying sunlight. It seems like there is something missing from it, like it should be shinier or cut into a less natural shape. Something feels wrong with this pile of stones around this tree, but I don't understand what that is

"I think these are evolution stones," Alabaster says as I climb up the small mound and place the stone back where it was taken from. "I wonder if they work."

"We aren't going to find out, now let's go. It's almost dark out, and we still need to find somewhere to sleep," I say, still walking toward the river.

"I don't think we'll make it if we keep on walking. Maybe we could make a tent or something rather than risking it and walking to find a cave," I like this all-business Alabaster.

"Okay. I see what you're saying, but what would we make it out of?" I ask. "I haven't seen any sticks this entire time. And, if we had a frame, what would we cover it with anyway?"

"Well, you've only been carrying those sticks this entire way." I look down at my furry grey body and notice that I have a large bundle of sticks between my short arms. I didn't even notice I had been picking up sticks as I was walking, and some of them are almost full branches.

I throw the sticks from my arms, and I feel 20 times lighter. Again, I didn't notice I had been gaining weight as we were walking. "Where did these sticks come from? And how would we even cover the frame if we made it?"

"You've been cleaning the forest as we were walking," he gestures behind me where there is a large pile of brown and green leaves. "You seriously didn't notice you were picking all this up?"

"Haha! This is a joke right? I didn't notice any sticks the entire way, let alone knew I was picking them up. And I sure didn't realize that I had a tail!" I notice a body part I had never felt while I was a human, and am able to guide it forward into view.

The brown spotted white tip of the tail becomes visible before I see the main, light grey portion. The tail has a few dirt covered, brush-like puffs of fur on the bottom, and I assume these are what have grabbed most of the leaves. As I brush my hand,_ now that I'm a Pokémon, I guess it's a paw_, my paw through the fur, and find some leaves hidden inside the tangles.

"Not a joke! You have been gathering that pile for the past few minutes. I'm amazed at how many leaves you were able to gather! And the sticks, you have been bending down and grabbing them every time we passed one," he explains my actions. I still don't believe I gathered all these without thinking.

"Fine. We'll set up camp by this tree. In the morning we are going to the river," I sort through the pile of sticks and take out the larger straight ones.

"So, that's where we're going. _Okay_. I thought we were just walking through the forest to that mountain," he points in the direction we were going.

"When were you able to see that?"

"We passed through a meadow where I was able to see some smoke coming from the mountain in front of us."_ I guess I've been so focused on other things that I didn't notice my surroundings, other than a few of the trees we passed._

By now I've sorted plenty of large sticks, and I move over to the massive leaf pile to begin sorting the full, green leaves out to cover the frame with. "Wasn't your arm broken before we came here?"

"Yeah, it was. I found it weird that I didn't feel it when I woke up here, because it was such a pain when we were there," he shakes his arm violently to show that it isn't in pain anymore.

"How did you even break it in the first place?" I ask the question that has been bothering me since I woke up in the human world this morning.

"I heard a voice while I was flying, and it startled me because I wasn't expecting to hear it as clearly as I did, and no one else was home either. So, I ran into the wall of my house, and I was asleep until you walked into my hospital room, except I couldn't really move until The Mystery Machine was plugged in, it was really weird," he explains. _So, that's why he was already fully awake when he opened his eyes._

"But, you were asleep for hours, even before I came. Why didn't you wake up sooner, why only when I came in?" I still don't quite understand why he was unconscious for so long.

He shrugs, "Maybe something was keeping me asleep and you scared it away?"

I laugh. I have quite a few leaves sorted out to almost be able to cover the structure, but I'm still far from done. "Hey, why don't you help me sort out leaves?"

"Why do we need to cover it anyway?" Alabaster sits next to me and grabs an armful of leaves.

"If we don't cover it, and something walks by, they are sure to see us. Covering it will give us some privacy to sleep, so we don't need someone to watch outside. We will be much safer from both the wind, sun, and other Pokémon if we cover the tent," I explain.

After a few more minutes, it is getting dark outside and I declare that we have enough leaves sorted to cover the structure, and that we should start constructing it. The ground is covered in dead brown leaves, and I am not sleeping on that. I use my new tail to sweep an area of ground to construct our tent in. With the ground now short grass, I take two sticks that are the same length and a third longer stick and make the starting frame. I hold it steady as Alabaster starts leaning sticks on either side, making a tent of twigs. When it is stable enough to stand on its own, I slip out one of the openings and help to lay sticks on the structure. Now, I was planning on layering the leaves on top of each other methodically, layer by layer, but it is getting really dark, so I take a quarter of our sorted leaves and throw it on one side of the finished frame and repeat it for the other side. For any large holes left, I take some of the larger leaves and cover them.

The tent didn't come out perfectly, one half droops lower than the other, and there are still a few large holes near the top of the tent, but I think it is pretty good for a ten minute creation. At the end, we sorted twice as many leaves as we needed to cover the tent, so I decide we should use the rest of the leaves to make some beds. Since we're now small, I don't think either of us need a very big sleeping area. We move the remaining green leaves through one opening to cover the grass floor of our tent, making two larger mounds for us to sleep on.

It is almost black out now, but I am not feeling at all tired. In our world I guess it would be around 4 P.M. right now, so it makes sense that I am not feeling sleepy yet.

"Well, we have protection. What now?" Alabaster says, stepping back next to me.

"I don't know. What is there to do here when you can't see anything? We don't have any way to start a fire, so we should probably get in bed before we lose our sense of direction." I start walking toward the tent backwards, watching Alabaster.

"Mhm," Alabaster follows me. We step inside the tent and Alabaster takes his bed near the wall, while I walk a few steps further into the back before getting onto my bed.

It is quiet. I know Alabaster is going to be awake for a while, because he has never gone to sleep before me, and he must be as scared as I am of this entire situation. An hour of silence is almost unbearable with only your thoughts to keep you company, but we get through it before I speak what's on my mind.

"Alabaste?" I break the silence.

"Hmm," He doesn't move.

"I'm sorry," I stare at the black leaves above me, trying to see the stars through one of the gaps.

"For what?" The leaves under him rustle as he turns his body.

"I was scared when we first came here. You were playing around and I yelled at you to get you to make you as scared as I was. I wanted someone to share my fear. I shouldn't have done that. You were happy and I ruined it. I didn't mean what I said; we _will_ get back to our world. We aren't going to die here," I feel my eyes start to burn. I don't know why I'm about to cry, if it's because I'm scared, or because I am speaking the truth, or because I think my promise is a lie.

"No. Thank you. I shouldn't have been fooling around, and you made me understand that. I need to take this more seriously, but I never believed that we wouldn't get home. I don't accept that we might die here. But I do need to help us get through this, so we can see Minna, Cry, Juraed again," I hear him sit up.

I laugh the tears away. It's not a joyful laugh, it's a laugh in spite of fear. A laugh that is hopeful in the face of hopelessness. A laugh that says, _we aren't trapped here, we'll get through this_.

"What's so funny?" He doesn't understand what the laugh means, "Is it because I am not the Pokémon I should be? Yeah, I don't think I should be a Cyndaquil either," he is mostly trying to get off of the topic. "I think I should have been something like an Emolga, the electric flying squirrel. At least, then, I would still have the same powers."

"I think you should've been an Abra, having slept as much as you did before we came here," I wipe the few tears that started forming from my eyes.

"Like you should be talking. Becoming a Minccino is hardly a compliment, the cleaning chinchilla," he laughs.

"That explains why I feel unbearably dirty. I hate sleeping outside as it is, covered in dirt makes it a thousand times worse! I need to clean myself up!" I rub the fur on my body, trying to get the dirt off, but the dirty feeling doesn't go away and it just feels worse now that I've mentioned it.

He laughs at me, "Yeah, at least I'm not a Minccino. You are a clean freak, so I guess it makes sense why you are."

"I am not a clean freak! I just like things to be in their place and not on the ground. I'm glad I don't have your dragon scales though," I joke.

"Hey. Don't joke about that. Well, I don't have them now at least," I hear him settle back into his bed.

"Your short fur covers most of the white color, but you don't look like the normal Cyndaquil."

"Does that mean I do still have my scales?" He quickly sits back up.

I laugh, "You sure do," I lie down deep into my bed and close my eyes. The little bit of crying made my eyes sting, so I can keep my eyes closed much easier.

"No fair. Y'know, they are my least favorite thing my dad gave me; they itch and they make me look like a snowman."

"What? A snowman? Seriously?" I was going to try and sleep, but what he said was so ridiculous that my eyes open again and I stare into the black ceiling.

"Fine, Mary's little lamb's fleece. My skin looks white, white, and I look weird."

"Where is this coming from? Sure you are white, but why are you complaining about it now?"

"I thought we were talking about what we were thinking about. I was thinking about what my dad did for me, and also why he left," he explains. I have told him many times that I thought his dad had felt threatened, so he left to protect them, but he can't accept that as the reason. I think that, in the back of his mind, he believes me at least a little. I was eventually going to use the Mystery Machine at his house to reveal the reason he did leave, but I don't think that's going to happen anymore.

"Yeah, we were, but, I don't know, it was just a little unexpected," I say.

I hear him sigh before I hear the leaves rustling. I can't see what just happened, but I assume he is now trying to sleep. _His dad is always on his mind, I'm not sure if it is such a good thing or not. Maybe someday he'll be able to forgive him and understand why he did leave, but he needs to start thinking about his powers as gifts rather than burdens if he is ever going to get there. I hope I can still use the machine at his house, because I really want him to realize his dad didn't leave because of him. Good night, Alabaster. I hope you can accept this new form more than the last._ I close my eyes for the last time before morning.

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**Another chapter read, thanks! I guess this is the weirdest thing I've written in a while, just because it is Pokémon, and I have never tried writing under another universe other than my own. I like the evolution tree already, but what does it mean? Why are there so many stones piled around the tree?  
If you have anything to say about the story, any comments or questions, please PM me or leave a public review, I like reading your feedback. **

**I'm still excited to keep on writing, so I'mma go. Bye!**


	5. Eating Berries

**It's been a couple weeks since I uploaded the last chapter, but I finished it. This one is 5 1/2 thousand words long, but I think that's about as high as it should go for a while. Hopefully you can get through it!**

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When your body wakes up, don't you love how relaxed you are? Not me. I hate it when I wake up and my wings decide to stretch themselves. It's so hard to control them when they do that. I have never slept in the same room as another person because of them. My wings would extend themselves and, if I was anywhere near another person, they would end up being pushed across the floor. Now that I'm a Pokémon, I have no idea what will happen when I wake up relaxed. _Maybe my back will flame up, since I am a Cyndaquil_. I couldn't sleep in the tent with Elpama anyway, between not being used to sleeping with another person and all that I needed to think about.

I have my back against a tree when everything changes from the deep black color to dim shades of gray and I can finally see again. I thought about starting a fire with the rest of the sticks Elpama was gathering, but I decided against it. She had a good point about us needing to be hidden, and starting a bright fire when it is dark is not a great way to keep yourself out of danger. We didn't need the extra heat last night anyway because it is quite warm here, but that might be because I turned into a fire type which would act as a natural heat source, driving away any nighttime chill.

I thought about if the tent became colder when I wandered away. If Elpama was too cold, she'd wake up and come looking for me, so I wasn't thinking about that for too long. My mind also thought about which version of Pokémon we came into, not just the region but if it was the TV show or either of the video games that we would walk through. _If this world exists and we are actually here, then how close will our interpretation of it be; the one known in our world?_

Now that I can see much more than I could have in the pitch-black night, my eyes fall upon the pile of stones by the tent. _Why is there a pile of evolution stones around that tree? Aren't they usually quite rare and expensive?_ I think about digging through the pile to see what is underneath, but with how close the tent is to the tree, I don't think I'll be able to be quiet enough to not wake Elpama. She would be mad at me if I started digging through the stones. She wasn't very happy that I grabbed that first one.

I don't know how heavily Elpama sleeps or how dark she keeps her room at night, and I don't know if she will wake up when it becomes too bright. I know I don't want her questioning where I've been all night, so I decide I should go back into the tent before she does wake up.

I can see where I'm going through the dim grey and am able to walk to the tent without issue. I carefully step toward my pile of leaves, trying to make as little noise as possible so Elpama doesn't wake up to me sneaking back in. My foot finds the pile of leaves that I am supposed to be sleeping in and I am able to breathe easier. _All I need to do is turn around and lay down, then Elpama has no reason to think I was outside._ I plant my front feet on the edge of the bed and shuffle my back feet up until I am situated in the center where I then lay down.

_Good. I'm back in bed and Elpama will never need to know differently. These leaves feel really cold though. It feels like they were put in a freezer._ I try and control the heat that, since I'm now a Cyndaquil, I know I have, to heat up the bed a little. After about a minute of trying, I give up. _I have no experience with trying to guide my body heat, and this fire is nothing like the electricity I used to have._

The leaves under my body start to slide sideways, bringing me with them. I bite my tongue to keep myself from yelling in surprise as I fall off my bed and into the shallower leaf layer on the floor. My only thoughts are "_I hope Elpama doesn't wake up from this noise!_" No motion comes from across the tent and the only noise is the slow breaths of the sleeping Minccino. I sigh outwardly with the breath I've been holding as I listened to hear if Elpama had woken up, relieved that she is still asleep.

Slowly, I start to stand up, focused on making as little noise as I can. Something touches my back and I feel it move with me as I continue to stand. Only when the roof starts to lower as I rise do I realize that I am lifting the wall. I stop too late. The sticks that make up the wall start to slide across my back and further away from the center support. I reach my hand out to try and stop the wall from sliding, but I end up pushing it farther away. _No! Don't fall!_ I reach out to grab it one more time before the whole roof reaches the ground. I feel one of the sticks from the wall land under my hand. I pull the stick downward against my back, even though it is somewhat painful, I need it to get stuck in the ground again. The weight lifts off my back and the stick doesn't follow my hand when I move it away. I sigh once more, because the tent is stable again, but it is much lower than it was when we built it. I roll myself back away from the wall, gasping from the effort and fright. Seconds later, I see movement again, the opposite wall of the tent falls on top of Elpama before the rest of the sticks on my wall fall on top of me.

Immediately, I hear Elpama's voice, "Gah! Wha-Who?"

I stay as quiet as possible and try to sink farther under the sticks above me. The hardest part about this is suppressing the laugh I have in my throat.

Elpama thinks for a moment before calmly saying, "Alabaster?"

I try to answer but the laughs are the only thing that come to my throat, so I can only give a small giggle.

She laughs as well, "What did you do?"

I start laughing louder. This is funny. That I was trying my hardest to keep her asleep, and she wakes up in the most dramatic way possible. When I am able to calm myself down I say, "The tent fell."

I hear sticks being pushed across each other, "I can see that. But, how did it happen?" I'm quiet, still lying under the sticks. "Never mind. This isn't the wake-up I was expecting, but definitely not the worst way I can think of."

I watch the sticks move off of me and reveal the Minccino behind them, a smile on their grey face. For someone who woke up by being crushed by a wall of sticks, she sure doesn't seem very mad.

"Let's clean up a little bit and," She looks around, deciding if it's too dark to start walking, "And in a little while, we'll keep on going toward the river."

"Okay, good. I hope we can find something to eat. I'm hungry," I'm glad she's not mad about me knocking down the tent.

"I don't know if we'll be able to eat anything for a little while, but could you help me move these sticks?" I stand up and help Elpama pick up the sticks from the tent. When we finish, we have a neat pile of wood at the side of the evolution stone tree. It still isn't very bright, but color is coming back to the forest, so we decide to sit here for a little while longer.

"How'd you knock the tent down anyway?" Elpama sits down by the tree in front of me and motions for me to sit by her.

I sit on the spot next to her before answering, "I kind of fell out of my bed and knocked the wall over. I tried to stop it, but the tent collapsed onto us anyway."

"I figured as much, but how did you fall into the wall? The leaves weren't piled that high." She says.

"Well, the leaves became really cold, so I tried to warm them up, but they started sliding and I fell into the wall. I don't know why they were so cold. It was like someone froze them."

"Now that you say it, I did notice your bed was quite cold when we were cleaning." After a little while of thinking, she shrugs, "I think it's bright enough to safely walk to the river. There isn't much farther to go."

Elpama stands and holds her hand down to help me up. I accept and we continue walking toward the water. We pass the stone pile, which I had almost forgotten about. The evolution stones have almost regained all their colors, and the pile is very pretty. I almost ask Elpama if I could see what's underneath the pile, but I remember that she said it would be dangerous, so we pass it by without a mention. I notice Elpama's stride is very even and confident, her large ears are held high above her head, and her tail is held close to her back as if she has already adjusted to her Minccino self and can control her urges to clean. She hasn't paused at any of the rocks or logs we've climbed over or through, thinking of where we should turn, she is moving forward steadily. Before long, I hear the faint sound of a river above the morning bird Pokémon's songs.

"If we keep walking, we're about 10 minutes away. The river is really loud now," Elpama says.

"And we still haven't seen any food," I moan with the pain in my stomach.

"Water usually helps to grow plants, so if we were to find food, we would find it in this stretch," Elpama encourages.

"Well, if there might be food coming up, then I'm willing to continue. Let's go," I take the lead, walking a little faster than we were going before. It's easier to be walking on the flat ground between these trees than the rough turf we had passed. In about 10 minutes, I see the river start to appear between the trees. "Hey! I see the river!" I call back to Elpama, who had lost her stride and seems a little out of breath, as I start running toward the river.

The water grows from a small waterfall far to the right and flows all the way around a curve to the left. The river is shallow enough and clear enough to see the rocky bottom beneath the faintly blue water. Near the edge of the riverbank, there are tall plants of many colors growing, mixed within, I can spot a few colored orbs of berries. I have seen enough and run the short distance between where I stand and the nearest berry bush, immediately grabbing two large red berries and shove them into my mouth. My teeth break through the stiff flesh of the pair and an awful taste fills my mouth. I quickly chew the berries into a pulp just small enough to swallow and my mouth grows hot as it goes down. I'm not sure if the heat is spicy, or that my hidden fire powers have started working, but I splash my face into the stream and swallow away all the juices from the berry. My thirst is quenched, but my mouth is still hot from whatever that sensation was.

I turn back around toward the forest and see Elpama emerge from the trees. "Don't eat these berries!" I say, pointing at the bush with my tongue sticking out of my mouth to cool it off.

Elpama slowly walks her way over to the bush I stand by and takes a look through the pale pink leaves at the red orbs. "Now, I'm no good with the newer generations of Pokémon, but I think I know my berries here," she plucks one of the larger berries and squeezes it in her hand, barely squishing the stiff flesh. "I believe these are leppa berries, just by the way they look," she pinches the berry between her teeth and breaks through. She chews the bite slowly and finally swallows it, "it tastes like a juicy, unripened apple. I don't know why it's so hot for a fruit, but I would say it's most comparable to an apple." Elpama suddenly jumps and runs over to the river.

_Uhh, okay…_ I walk over to where Elpama stopped by the river and see she's staring with an open mouth at the water. It's not the water she wants to look at, her warped reflection shows a grey furred Pokémon with large ears and long tufts of fur. Elpama reaches her short arms up to her head and pulls her ears down to the side of her head and holds them there, covering her longer cheek fur with the outside of her grey ears. She stares at the river's surface with a look of curiosity and wonder as she releases one ear, letting it rubber band back up, and moves her paw to her chest where she pats a large fluff of fur. She dives her paw deeper into the fluff, and the expression on her face changes from curiosity to disgust as if just realizing how dirty her fur is.

Elpama turns to face me, her face a mixture of disgust and anxiety, "I need to clean my body." She walks herself into the middle of the river and dips her body as deep as she can into the water. She rubs her paws ferociously through the fur on her tail, trying to get every bit of dirt and grime out of the fluff, "It is really hard to stay clean while we're living out here in this forest. I hope we are able to get out soon, because I cannot stand all this dirt!" After a while, she finishes up on her tail and begins scrubbing her body with it.

I stand and watch as Elpama ferociously cleans all the dirt from her fur and travel down the river. She is in the middle of cleaning her tail a second time when I get bored and start kicking at the water. The ripples that are created are quickly swept away, and I can see the little waves moving their way downstream. I play with the water for some time, and Elpama still hasn't finished cleaning herself; she seems to be in her own little world, and no matter how much I try to talk to her, she doesn't respond. I walk along the river and find some different berries, long ones, short ones, bunches of berries, small berries, even ones that look identical to fruit in our world. I return to where we have been resting and find Elpama, now spotless, relaxing in the water and running her paw through her chest fluff. Her eyes are closed, and this gives me an idea. I quietly crouch down and drop the berries by a tree, and slowly sneak over to the stretch of river next to her. She doesn't notice as I reach the riverbank and jump in.

I land in the water on my back feet and I see the water splash up in a small wave around me, a part of it heads toward the Minccino resting on the shore and covers her drying body in a new coat of water. Elpama's eyes open and she jumps up, water dripping from her now soaked fur, "Alabaster!" Her higher voice yells at me in the familiar tone.

I laugh and lay onto my belly in the water, looking at her. Elpama walks over to where I decided to rest, "Now we're both soaked. What was your plan here?"

I paint an innocent look on my face, "I brought us some more berries." I gesture toward the trees where I dumped the berries.

Elpama looks to where I motioned and sees the pile of colored fruits. She turns back to me, "Thanks for gathering more food. You're covered in dirt, though. Would you like me to clean you? After that, we can eat," she waves her tail toward me.

I look at my pale-yellow underbelly and see that it is patched with wet dirt, "Since you did such a good job on yourself, I guess I could let you clean me." I barely get the last word out as Elpama's tail forces me in the water and begins rubbing all the dirt off of my back. I give a yip of surprise as I fall back into the water. I don't want her taking a very long time with cleaning me, "Could you just not take as long as you did with yourself?"

"Okay, I'll only clean you up a little bit," She responds, her tail still scrubbing at my back.

I yawn. I'm only now feeling the effects of staying up all night. "Thanks," I close my eyes and relax as I feel her tail moving back and forth on my back and eventually moving to my sides. I am pushed onto my back as Elpama moves to cleaning my belly. It is so relaxing, having my belly rubbed like this, and I know it is just to clean me, but it reminds me of when my mom rubbed my belly to help me sleep as a kid.

"Hey!" Elpama taps my face and I blink my eyes open, "No falling asleep while I am cleaning you! How are you already tired?"

She's stopped scrubbing my fur and stands in front of my face. I am sprawled onto my back in the shallow water making Elpama look like she's the one upside down. "You rubbing my belly like that is very relaxing, it made me tired."

She doesn't seem to believe that and looks at me questioningly, "Were you even in bed at all last night? Did you sleep?"

"I-… No. I left the tent after we stopped talking. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep, so I went outside. And, if I'm being honest, I… I was angry with myself." I sit up and stare into the water, watching it flow around my waist.

"Why were you angry with yourself? You should have been mad at _me_. I was the one who laughed at what you said."

"I was making the conversation about me and I wasn't happy when you questioned what I was saying. It made me realize I wasn't being fair and I regretted what I tried to say; it made me angry at myself."

"It looks like we both regret what we said to each other last night." She moves closer to me and pulls my head into the fluff on her chest. It reminds me of what my mother did to me when I had told her something I regretted. It is very comforting, but it doesn't change what I believe. "You don't need to regret what you said to me last night, I was the one who didn't let you have your turn to talk. When you want to say something, don't let what I think stop you from saying it. You are the closest thing to family I have, especially here, I could never be mad at you, no matter what you say or do." Elpama's chest vibrates and I hear a laugh, "I guess that's kind of what love is."

I feel my head release from Elpama's grasp, but I can't respond to what she just said._ If that's what love is, could I get mad at her? I can't stay mad at her, I know that. Did Elpama just admit that she loves _me_?! Have I ever been mad at her?_ I shake my head and stare at her teary face. I can't think of how to respond. I never thought that my best friend would be my only family. I realize that I feel the same way about her as she does for me; I love her being my friend and I could only think of her as family. Only my mom and my brother have ever said that they love me, but they've done that for as long as I can remember. I have no idea how to handle what she said, so I pull myself closer to her and hug her. She knows now that I understand her. It was a better response than shaking my head.

We hug for a few seconds, then Elpama jumps away and looks down the river as if she heard something. I don't see what she's looking for, but Elpama keeps her eyes downstream, focused on the tree line on either side. After a few seconds of not seeing anything, I get a little impatient, "Did you see something?"

Elpama silently shushes me and continues staring. After another minute, I start to hear something that sounds like it's blasting through the river, like a cannonball being fired into the water but it keeps going. I hear a clear voice come from down the river before Elpama taps my arm and says "Hide!" pulling herself into a large bush on the other side of the river.

I frantically look around for what is happening, but this is all so sudden that I can't understand what to do. The approaching force is really loud, and I don't think I can make it to one of the bushes before it gets here. I jump down into the water and cower with my nose in the shallow water and my eyes closed, hoping that whatever is coming doesn't see me. The noise stops and I feel a wave of water rush over my back from downstream and I hold my breath harder than before. I feel something tap my back and I jump so far that I fall onto my back and I can see what just touched me. An orange otter-like creature with a yellow float ring around its neck stands at double my height over me. Twin tails are extended out to the sides of the creatures cream underside, each orange tail tipped with a similar cream coloring. The orange arms carry blue fins underneath, being pushed into the creature's belly from the relaxed stance it has taken.

"Hi! I haven't seen you around here," the creature, a Buizel, greets with its hand raised in a friendly way.

I don't trust this Pokémon, no matter how friendly they seem, "Hi. Yeah, just passing through. I'm hoping that I can get where I need to soon."

"Where're you tryin'a get to? Maybe I can help," the Buizel offers, slowly walking around me like a leopard stalking its prey.

"I don't know really. I just want to get out of this forest and get to some town," I stand myself up and take a guarded stance toward the Buizel.

"Yeah? I can definitely help you there," the Buizel smiles and looks over his shoulder as if expecting someone.

"I'm fine. I would rather get there myself. I mean, if we were to get lost, I wouldn't want to be with some random Buizel I just met."

"An independent type, eh? Let's make it so we're not strangers," he holds his hand out. "My name's Butler."

"I'm Alabaster," I tentatively shake his hand.

"Hey, what's with the weak grip? I don't know bite," he turns back the way he came. "Now com'n, I know this swell place that gives me all sorts of tasty snacks. I'm sure you'd be welcomed very much there. It's not every day that ya see a Cyndaquil, even less a pale one. There's even this big water slide that goes in a _huge_ loop! You'd love it, I swear," he stops talking when he notices I haven't moved.

"Actually, I just gathered up all those berries over there," he looks to the pile of berries, "and I was hoping I could eat them."

"Okay. I'll tell you what, we can eat those berries over there and then I'm gonna hit the road. You can follow me if you want, 'cause I'm going back to that awesome place I was just talkin' about."

We both walk over to the berries I picked, and I look back to the bush Elpama jumped into. I can't see any sign of her being inside it. I look back to the berry pile and notice that some of them seemed to have grown a bit of frost on their surface despite the warm, noontime air.

"Dig in!" Butler says, grabbing one of the berries that looks like a large blueberry and placing it in his mouth. I grab a bunch that looks like a blue blackberry and am about to put it in my mouth when Butler smacks it out of my hand, "No! Don't eat that one. That one tastes 'orrible. Hold on," he reaches into the berry pile and pulls out a large berry that kind of resembles a yellow and green pacifier, besides the fact that it's about half my height. "This is one of my favorite berries. The Wacan berry never fails to delight." I don't remember picking anything that big, but how else would it have gotten in the pile?

I grab the berry and take a bite out of the flesh. The flavor is great, but it feels kind of waxy in my mouth, kind of like a candy I remember from our world. I swallow the bite I took and say, "Wow, this berry is tasty! You were right, this is a great berry."

"Told ya!" Butler looks back down the river and I hear another voice coming from the direction. _It sounds like someone calling his name. Did he lead them to us?_ "Well, it's been fun, but we have to go now."

"We? I thought you said I could come _if_ I wanted," I take a step away from him and the berries toward the river.

"I never said you could stay here, now, did I? I happen to know the Pokémon who owns this stretch of the stream, and they certainly don't appreciate visitors. You're coming with me, and I do hope you come willingly. You won't like what happens if you don't." He follows my steps back with steps forward, not letting me grow any farther from him.

I break into a run toward the river, hoping I can get closer to Elpama so she can help me drive Butler off. A man comes running in our direction from down the river, calling the Buizel's name. I'm halfway through the shallow water and the man is running quickly toward us on one side of the river while the otter stands on the other, watching the man approach with a proud smile on his face.

"Butler, knock them out before they reach the land! Soak its fire!" The man calls across the river to Butler, who has now started moving, splashing a ton of the water from the shallow river in my direction as well as shooting his own water from his mouth. The water reaches me and completely covers my body, making me even more wet than I already was. It feels as if I've been standing outside in a downpour and the water has seeped deep into my clothes, except I'm not wearing clothes, it's a jacket of pure water. "Quickly now! Use Quick Attack!" The Buizel dashes through the water quickly and runs into my back, sending me forward. I have no chance to escape this Buizel, so I turn around and face him head on.

"I really didn't want to do this, mate, but you left me no choice," Butler slowly walks toward me, his feet dragging in the water. _There isn't any way I can see that I could win this fight, my first Pokémon battle. Butler is a lot stronger than I am, and that attack really hurt._ "My master really wanted to catch himself some new Pokémon today, and then I find you." _I think the only way I could win this fight is if I somehow blinded him._ I feel something hot building in my chest, a sensation I am not familiar with. I force the heat to my mouth and I huff it in Butler's direction. A black cloud fills the air between me and the Buizel, effectively blinding either of us from the other. This is my chance to get away from Butler, so I turn back toward the shore where the man is standing and begin running again.

"You can get through this, come toward my voice and fire a Swift at the Cyndaquil as soon as you can see it!" I hear Butler splashing through the river in my direction. I am almost to the shore when I hear a sound similar to the chinking of glass at a dinner party coming from behind me. I am knocked forward once more as I am pelted with what feels like balls of ice, and I land at the feet of the man, barely conscious. "Now I gotcha," I see the man crouch down to pick me up, his hands like a greedy kraken's tentacles, ready to pull me into its lair.

With the man crouched down above me, I hear Elpama call from the bush, "I won't let you touch him!" The Minccino jumps out of the bush and runs toward the man, her hand pulled into a fist. She leaps forward and lands her fist on the man's hand, causing him to pull it close to his body in pain.

"Butler, chase this useless Minccino off. If I bring both of these creatures back, I'll be forced to keep one of 'em. Probably be the fat grey ball," the man sends Butler to shoot a really powerful stream of water directly at Elpama, sending her rolling like a ragdoll into the trees. My mind tries to make me scream, but I'm not strong enough to move any part of my body. "That one was really weak, now let's knock this one out for the trip home."

Butler steps up to me and quietly says, "You're lucky I like ya. Master's not gonna be happy with me when we get back," he faces the man and shakes his head.

The man looks quizzically at him, "You think he's calmed down? Okay, fine. We'll let 'em stay awake, but I'm not carrying it. And, I'm not letting it walk with us. Would you carry it back for me?"

"He says it like a question," Butler says, lifting me in his arms. "Oh, how you're lookin' at me. Humans can't understand us, not really anyway. So, you've never been around a human before? They're pretty neat; especially this one. He gives me all sorts of things…" Butler continues talking as we start walking downstream to wherever it was he is going to take me.

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**Where are Butler and his master taking Alabaster? I mean, it sounds pretty nice from how Butler described it. That will be revealed in a few chapters, but how'd you like this one? I felt like it was a good chapter, despite the length. I can't wait to reveal what I have planned for the next chapter! Thanks for reading this much, and I hope you continue to enjoy what I write, but, for now, I'mma go. Bye!**


	6. Forest Life

**If you haven't checked out my profile yet, I have updates on my plans as well as some overly in depth character descriptions. I'm glad you have read this far and are continuing to read it!**

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_Knocked out… by a blast of water. I am disappointed that I couldn't do more for Alabaster when he needed my help. I couldn't keep myself conscious when I was hit with a simple jet of water, but he was able to hold himself up against being tackled and hit with all those stars, and he still was conscious when I fell. I should have gotten involved earlier, not hiding when Alabaster clearly had no idea what was going on, running out to defend against Butler, telling him about the sound I heard. I made a mistake, and I lost another member of my family, someone who showed me how I should have felt if I could be with my parents. I am an idiot, but I shouldn't sit around doing nothing. I should try and find Alabaster, but I have no idea where he is, no idea which way to go. I guess I should at least eat before deciding on a direction, Alabaster did gather all those berries for us to eat after all._

I open my eyes once more and look at the trees around me. These trees really do look so much larger than any I remember from Earth. Even the old trees in the forest behind Alabaster's house never seemed this large, and they were a few hundred feet tall each. Maybe it's the perspective of becoming a small Pokémon that causes everything to grow much larger, or maybe this is an extremely old forest that has trees which are actually taller than any I've seen, and maybe both explanations are combined to make the truth. I see the way which I came flying into these trees by the skid marks on the ground. It wouldn't have been hard to find my way out even without the path because I can still hear the stream really close to where I am and it's a lot brighter in the direction the stream cuts the forest. My body is in great pain from the attack, but I make my way through the path back to where I last saw Alabaster, seeing no sign of anyone who was here just minutes ago, leaving me no way of knowing which way they went.

I don't feel like crying even though I just lost the last person I could call family; the only friend I know in this world. I can't believe that any of them are dead, but that they are all lost, waiting for someone to rescue them. I will find Alabaster, and we are going to get back home safely. _Alabaster gathered the berries for us to eat together, but he isn't here anymore. He's probably not going to be coming back here for a long time, so I shouldn't let them all go to waste. Neither of us like to see food rotting away._

On my way through the river, I notice that the water gets a lot colder as I approach the opposite shore as if someone just dumped a cooler of ice water while I was wading, which I find really strange. Clinging to the riverbank, I find a thin sheet of ice as well as a light amount of frost chewing on the grass in a trail up to the berry pile. I follow the trail of frost behind the berries to as far as the tree line of the forest, but it seems to have ended there. Some of the berries have grown a layer of frost on their surface, and a few of the berries seem to be covered in bite marks as well as a deeper frost on their skin. This mysterious frost seems to have no source or pattern, but it must have come recently because the sun would have melted it quickly, even by the time I'm done processing the trails, it has mostly melted. I wander a little ways into the forest and look around to see if I can see what created the trail, but it's as if whatever created it disappeared with the frost. I would like to investigate why frost is forming, but there doesn't seem to be any leads or clues as to why it's happening, so I do what I came over here to do and grab a berry. The first one my hand touches resembles a blackberry, but it seems really squishy, and the skin looks bruised in multiple places. I decide to pick a different berry, one that looks fresher.

I find a pink berry that closely resembles a peach, and I remember the name Pecha berry. I take a bite out of the flesh of the juicy berry and the sweet, fruity flavor covers my tongue. This berry's flavor reminds me of all the best fruits I've ever tasted, and I can't think of a way that any berry could taste this good. I gobble the rest of the berry's delicious inside and find myself wanting more of the flavor. _It doesn't look like Alabaster gathered any more of this type, and I can't see any other pink berries close to the color of this one's skin anywhere else along the bank or in the pile._

I am not quite full from the one berry I ate, so I decide, rather than searching for more of the one I already tasted, to sample the remaining berries, hoping that they all have a taste as good as this one. I take a small bite from each different species of fruit and start placing them in a line, ranking them from personal favorite to least favorite, disappointed to find that none of the others are as good at the Pecha. Throughout the process, I can't help but feel as if someone is watching me, waiting until my back is turned to leap out and attack, so I decide that I'm not going to be able to let my guard down until I can leave the place. At the end, I look at the colorful line of berries and find that the berries at the front of the line end up being the sweetest and juiciest, and the ones at the end have ended up being the ones that feel like Styrofoam in my mouth and those that seem like spicy fruits. Berries aren't supposed to be spicy, bitter maybe, but I don't feel comfortable with a fruit that is spicy. Seeing this line of berries really makes me realize one of the reasons why I have the fat that I do: I can't keep myself away from the sweet foods. After putting all the nibbled berries in a line, I don't feel hungry anymore. There was a lot of different flavors and sizes between the berries Alabaster gathered, and quite a few that I didn't know the name of. It's an amazing amount of variety found by this one river, and I can't help but wonder how there is this much diversity in such a small area.

Now that I have some more downtime, I decide to wait and think, hoping that it is less dangerous in the daytime than I would assume there is at night. I take a seat in the shade by the trees and close my eyes, staring into the grey-red that fills my vision. _Where could Butler taken Alabaster? Maybe there is a house nearby or some warehouse, but how could I figure out where that is? Is there some way I could decide the right direction? …No, nothing comes to mind. I am not perceptive enough to investigate the scene for footprints or new marks on trees, nor do I have the spatial reasoning to search every foot of the forest without getting lost. Then, there's the frost that formed on the berries, and the voice that was speaking in our world. Maybe the two things are connected? Maybe it's all linked together in some way?_ Just then, I hear a rustling in the trees that sounds like something coming in my direction. It is extremely close, almost right behind me, maybe above me.

There is nowhere to hide, so I stand up and make myself look as big as possible, raising my ears and tail as high as I can control them to and holding my hands in little fists, ready to fight. I notice a small amount of frost develop on the edges of the low-hanging leaves before I feel a chill air blowing out of the forest, cooling my skin off further than the shade had been able to. A small, white sentient ice-cream cone rounds the trunk of the tree I had been sitting at just a moment ago, riding its way down and around the tree like a fireman's pole. The creature has an icy white head atop its crystal sugar cone body. Poking out to either side of the cone body, there is a stubby arm-like icicle. The snowy white head is mostly spherical, designed with a few piercings of ice gems around the face, with a lopsided spiral at the top which resembles a cowlicked hairstyle. The creature's icy eyes and mouth appear friendly enough, but there is something unsettling about the way the creature thoroughly scans the world through the misty cloud of ice that follows it.

I keep myself guarded as they greet me, "'ello there! I smelled some berries over this way, so I decided to come and take a peek at what it was about." From their voice, I can't tell whether they are a girl or a boy, their voice does have a refined accent to it, but they look at the line of berries I've laid out, "I see you've picked out the sweetest bunch there. Quite an amazing variety that grows here by the river, innit?"

This ice-cream seems friendly enough, "I was quite surprised to see so many berries which I have never seen before," I walk over and grab a berry at random from the line, "Like this one."

The creature looks at the berry I grabbed and puts on a confused face while maintaining its smile, "An Oran berry?" _Crap. I'm nervous. I knew this berry, I just can't think straight. This guy is doing something to my head._

I laugh and toss the berry, moving my hand to behind one of my ears. "I have more trouble with names than faces. Speaking of, I don't think I've ever seen your species before. What are you called?" I try to push the attention off of me.

"Me? Well, I'm a Vanillite, though, I might look a bit more like my evolution, Vanillish than others are used to. As for what I'm called, the name's… Teela!" They do a flashy spin, pulsing the cloud of icy mist outward. "What do they call you, if I may ask?"

"I'm a Minccino, and I don't know if I look like most others. My name is… El-Elpama," I follow their introduction, messing up a little and pausing at my name to wonder if I should reveal it. I shake my head at the stutter before continuing the conversation, "What are you doing in this forest? Do a lot of people pass through here?"

The Vanillite laughs, "From the questions you are asking, you sound like a child, though you look as if you are nearing your adult years. I'll play along with your ignorance: I call a tree here home, but last night, it was attacked and I got knocked out. I didn't mind for a battle, so I hurried my way away from the tree, and I didn't get much of a look at whatever was looking to tussle, though I'd imagine they were rather strong. This place is named Pinwheel forest, but I would assume you'd know that, and humans do like to pass out to the bridge over there," They gesture one of their icicle arms downstream. "As for Pokémon, you could pass through larger colonies who are all friendly enough, but if you see one traveling alone, I would be wary. Even as a lone Pokémon, you can't assume others'll greet you kindly. A lone traveler might be crazy, mad; it's rare, but it could happen." The creature puts an arm to its chest, "Now, it's far more unusual to see a Vanillite in the forest, and you may be asking what I'm doing here." They tap on their icy cone where a jagged piece of ice can be seen attached to their smoother body, "It's possible by a mix of my ice power and this never-melting ice. Without it, I would have already melted months ago. That's also why I have this veil of mist surrounding me, to keep everything cool, as long as it isn't in the sun for too long," He takes another movement deeper into the trees and didn't really answer the question he posed. "Well, I've jabbered on for too long. I'd like to know your reason for coming to Pinwheel forest."

What they said was helpful, and I feel like I understand my situation here much better apart from why I was forced here, and I can't come up with a believable excuse for what I'm doing here, "Oh, uhh… I came here for… um. I'm here to… to… to get to that mountain." I point toward the mountain Alabaster noticed earlier, seeing it rise up high above the horizon.

Teela laughs, "That's no mountain, my Minccino, that's a volcano! You really have no idea what this area is, do you? If you would allow me, I'd be happy to be your guide. I mean, you aren't anywhere near the Pinwheel Minccino group, nor are you close to Nimbasa, so I could have only assumed you were dreadfully lost, but I see now that you aren't from around here. Either way, you shouldn't stick around this river. There is a certain Pokémon who owns this stretch, and they don't take kindly to visitors. How about it? I show you around the forest, and you stay out of danger? I know how to survive in this area, and you don't seem to be very seasoned with adventure yourself."

I still feel nervous, and I'm about to say yes, until I think about the frost forming on the tree. It's the same kind of frost that I saw at the stream and past the berries. I can't keep myself from asking, "Have you been watching me?"

The ice cream stays cool through my accusation, "Now, I may have acted more ignorant than I truly was, but I was only trying to keep you calm until we could get to know each other. Most people don't like finding out that they have been followed, so let me tell you everything I know about you. I know you were traveling with a Cyndaquil, who I don't see with you now. I know you have most of the cleaning habits of a Minccino, but not all; I find this peculiar as most Minccino act very similarly when it comes to cleanliness. I know you are pretty good at analyzing your surroundings sometimes. I know you haven't lived in Unova all your life, but I don't know exactly where you came from. I know you are lost here, and don't know exactly what you are doing. You are probably going to try and find the Cyndaquil you lost, but you don't know where to start. I saw that Butler and his master were walking away from here, and I assume they know where your Cyndaquil pet went. Oh, and once I found you here, I took this berry, I assume you don't mind, what with your sweet tooth," They go around the tree and push a partly frozen Leppa berry into view. "Is there any more you'd like to know about myself?" He takes a loud bite of the berry and waits for me to answer.

"Yeah, which way were Butler and his master going? And how did you figure all this out about me?" I ignore the fact that he's eating a berry while still holding conversation.

"I was walking with you guys on your way to the river. After I fell out of the tree, I ran off and happened to rest near where you camped the first night. I decided to follow and see what the two of you were traveling for. On the way, I noticed these things about you. And on the Cyndaquil, I saw that he was motivated by food and somewhat of an idiot, but I was more interested in what you were all about. I wasn't very interested in Butler's and his master's happenings, seeing as it's usually the same, so I didn't try and remember where of theirs they were walking to."

I don't believe their explanation on Butler, but I do see Teela as a threat, how they were able to analyze me so well, and I didn't even know he was there. I think that this creature knows more than they're letting on, but I don't know how to get it from them without arousing suspicion that I know more. The best way to deal with them is to pretend that we are friends and that I believe them, but I am _not_ going to follow this Vanillite around willingly, "Okay, sure. You found out a lot from so little watching. I'll try and find those two by myself if you can't help, but I'm not going to abandon Alabaster. You can continue living here in this forest, and I'm not going to bother you. The Pokémon that attacked your tree is probably gone by now, so you can go back home."

Teela isn't going to leave just yet, "It's no bother to me, I insist. I would be happy to be your guide. It's actually gotten quite boring in this forest since they stopped the Pokémon trades. So, I'll be your guide and you can be the guided?" They lower their body as if bowing and extend an arm to me.

_How hard will it be to make this creature leave?_ I shake my head, "Actually, I think I'd be able to do this a lot better myself. I don't need any help."

Teela is clearly getting annoyed as they mutter something they thought I couldn't hear, "_You're worse than that damned Emolga_," before saying more audibly, "Just let me help you. I know this area a lot better than you do, and I wouldn't get lost searching. I'm not going to beg, but I don't want you doing this by yourself."

I don't let on that I heard what they muttered, "I want to do this by myself, and even if you begged, I wouldn't let you help."

The Vanillite lets out an aggravated sigh and launches a small ice crystal at my forehead with impressive accuracy and force, "Fine. Damn you!" They turn back into the forest and disappear into the trees.

_They were very dramatic._ I rub where the crystal hit my head and find the area to be colder than normal even with how quick it was there, but not hurt._ Why'd they get so mad when I wouldn't let them help me? And I never even found out if they were a boy or a girl. What did they say about an Emolga? I'm going to assume that's someone's name or a Pokémon. Does this Emolga live around here? Teela seemed to find them annoying, whoever they are, but I doubt they are as annoying as Alabaster can be. Either way, I should decide where I'm going to go. Downstream, there is a bridge. Behind me, there is Teela's tree. There is a small waterfall to the right, I can't climb the rocky wall to either side, and ahead of me, I have no idea what there is, probably more forest. Downstream seems like the most likely option, seeing as that's the way Butler and his master came from, but that also makes upstream just as likely as where they were going. There is no way I could make it up the walls of the waterfall, so I guess I'm going toward the bridge._ I start walking downstream.

I keep the river and most of the berry bushes to my right and the forest I came through stays to my left as I follow the stream to where it should end up bringing me. I reach the first curve and can see what lied outside our vision from where we were resting before Butler arrived. Down this stretch of river, the berry bushes grow less frequent as it runs on into the distance. To either side of the river, the forest hugs more closely than it had before, making the path I had been walking on before much thinner, but still easy enough to walk along. I start walking downstream again, but I don't get too far before I hear a quiet rustling in the forest to my left.

I freeze and take the stance I held against Teela, ears and tail as big as I can manage, and watch the forest to find the source of the noise. Peeking around one of the mossy trunks, I spot a small yellow face watching me. As soon as I find it, the face disappears with a squeak. The squeak is so high and sounds so young that it makes me let my guard down and make myself small so I don't scare the Pokémon.

I still have what Teela told me about lone Pokémon wandering in the forest in my mind, but I don't believe that someone so young could be crazy. I call in a soft voice to the shy Pokémon, "Hey. What's wrong? I won't hurt you. You don't need to hide from me." I approach the tree I saw the yellow face disappear from, trying to see where it went. "You don't need to be scared." I slowly move around the side of the tree and am immediately hit with a sticky goop that weighs my body down, making it hard to move.

"Get away" The child's voice yells at me. I find the creature standing in front of me, four short legs outstretched in my direction as it balances on its back two orange stubs. The top of its head is a yellow color with two stubby yellow knobs on the forehead. The lower part of its face turns a white color down to the green body. The crescent mouth has two small pointy teeth on either side as it glares its black and white eyes at me. The creature seems to have a leaf stuck to its back which wraps around its head and forms a tall collar or hood behind the barely menacing scowl.

It's hard to stay calm when you've suddenly been covered in a sticky goop, "Wh-what was that for?! I'm not going to do anything to you! I only wanted to talk," I don't believe that this little - I say little but they are only slightly smaller than me - bug can be dangerous. This is the Pokémon world though, so I guess anything can hurt me.

"No! You just wanted to steal my hood like all the strangers do!" The bug keeps itself on its two back legs and continues scowling at me. Two of its legs rise up and grab hold of the leaf hood protectively. _ Why would they want to steal this guy's hood?_ "Leave me alone!"

"Why do people take your hood?" I don't make any move to leave this frightened child alone.

"'Cause their mean. Now go away before I tell my mommy!" They drop onto all their feet and start scuttling away.

I don't want to make them any angrier than I have already, "Okay, fine. Sorry for bothering you," I try and move away, but the goop restricts my movement and makes it hard to move.

"That's what I thought," they move closer to me and push me away from the forest before going back into the trees. _That little kid is quite protective of their hood, I wonder if they made Teela mad? Maybe they're the Emolga that Teela mentioned?_ I can't stand the sticky goo anymore. I try and move myself into the water a few feet away, but I end up falling onto my face from trying to move too quickly. I grunt as I move myself the last few inches to reach the water and begin scrubbing the goo out of my fur. It has gotten everywhere, from the fluff on my chest, belly, head, face, inside my ears, even between my toes. _What is this stuff? It seems to clump together as it travels downstream, and it sticks in my fur like melted marshmallow. I don't like this goop, whatever it is. I don't think it's dangerous, because it doesn't hurt or seem to leave any marks, it only makes it harder to move, and once it's gone its fine._

After many minutes, I feel like I've gotten all of it out and I can start walking down the river comfortably again. I plant my paws into the ground and make my way back to the grass path near the forest. I am still dripping with water as I take a few steps downstream, but I'm glad I'm able to move freely again. I still feel the ghost of the sticky goo in my fur which makes me imagine that I didn't clean myself well enough. I fight the urges to scrub my fur until all feeling is gone and I move my feet toward the bridge. I hear something move on the other side of the stream. I turn my head to see a white and yellow… something flying out of the forest toward me. The figure flies quickly just above the surface of the water and only speeds up as they near me.

"Watch out!" They call, making me jump to the side to avoid being tackled by the creature. They fly a small distance into the air where I was standing a second before and lower themselves gracefully onto their small feet. They walk over to where I landed and offer me a hand attached to their skin-like wing, "sorry about that. I didn't expect you to have moved so far by the time I got here." They resemble a flying squirrel, wings connecting their hips to their wrists, with the insides yellow and the back side black. Its white body rests under the head which has a black pattern, resembling a hood, wrapping around the back and up the large round ears. The furry white face has two round yellow patches on its cheeks and two black eyes above its small triangular nose and smiling mouth. The insides of its ears have white circles inside a larger yellow circle surrounded by the black fur from the hood feature making cup shaped ears.

Their friendliness seems much more real than Teela's, so I take the squirrel's hand and they help me up, though I end up pulling them down a bit with my weight. "What do you mean?"

They wave their hand in the direction they came from, "I saw you cleaning yourself from the trees over there, and I know how mad a Minccino can get when their bath time is interrupted, so I waited until you were done to come over here."

"What'd you want to come over here for? Wait, we should know what to call the other. Since you are the one who came to me, I think you should go first," I say

"Okay, sure. Uhh… I came over here to ask you where you got hit by string shot from and who used it. My name is Entoi '_the Emolga'_ as some people like to add. You can just call me Entoi if that's what you'd like. Now, who are you?"

I laugh at the abrupt end of their introduction, "I'm Elpama and I don't know who it was who covered me in the sticky goop. I assumed it was 'Emolga' but then you showed up and said you were the Emolga, so I don't have any idea. They said something about me trying to take their hood, if that helps."

"Haha! You didn't know what an Emolga was? You must not be from this forest then, haha. At any rate, you met Faun! Oh my god! Lucky me! Where is he? Did he have his hat? Was he with his mom? You're sure it was a Sewaddle? Did they say anything else? I'm talking too much, aren't I? I'll stop and let you answer," they stop and stare at me expectantly.

"Oh, umm… Sewaddle? They only yelled at me to get out and not take their hat after they shot me with the sticky goo. They did threaten to get their mom if I didn't get out," _I'm not sure if I want to tell this Emolga where I saw the bug, _"and I'm not sure where they are."

"Cool, cool. Were they in the forest?" Before giving me time to answer, the squirrel jumps away and flies into the forest.

"Wait! No, they-they're not in there!" I run after Entoi back into the forest.

I see some drying splotches of the white goo sticking to the trees and ground in this area and I hear some shouting happening ahead of me between Entoi and Faun.

"Why can't I have your hat? I look so good with it on!" Entoi's voice echoes off the dense trees.

"No! It's mine! My mommy made it for me! You had your own! No! Let it go!" Faun's voice fights back.

"I lost mine and I want another one! Can I have yours? Your mom can always make you a new one!"

I reach the area where the Emolga and Sewaddle are fighting. Entoi has his hands grasped around the bugs head, holding tightly to the leaf hood, trying to pry it off. Faun is curled up into a ball and holding its hood with all its feet, but is slowly losing its grip on the leaf as Entoi pulls harder. I can't help myself from getting involved, "Hey, Entoi! Stop! Let them go!"

Entoi stops pulling, but keeps his grip tight on the leaf, "But, I want a hat. He's not letting me take his, even though his mom makes him a new one every day. Don't you think I deserve at least one of his hats?"

I don't understand their logic, "How does that make sense?! You need to let him keep his hat, now let it go. How would you feel if you had a hat and someone tried to take it from you?"

"I know it makes sense to me, and I want a hat!" Entoi continues tugging on the leaf, "if someone tried to take my hat, I'd be sad and scared, but Faun doesn't need to be scared because I'm not going to hurt him if he lets go. I just want a hat of my own, and he gets a hat every day. It's not fair that I don't get one of my own! Now can you help me take his hat?"

Throughout the conversation, Faun has started crying louder for Entoi to stop. "Let the poor kid go, Entoi!" I run forward and try to pry Entoi's claws from the leaf, but the grip doesn't loosen on the balled up creatures hat.

Faun seems to have calmed down a little, "Entoi, please stop! My mommy can make you all the hats you want, just stop taking mine!"

"But I really want a hat and last time I asked her, she said that she was busy and she couldn't make me one. And yours fit a lot better than the ones she makes me," Entoi gives a big tug which ends up with Faun being lifted into the air and thrown into a tree, his hat off his head. "Aww, it ripped." The leaf in Entoi's grasp has a broken string connecting to either side of a crown-like cut. They lift it up to their head and tie the strings together at their chin, leaving it tipped to the side. "Still looks good on me though!" I run over to where Entoi threw Faun, worried that he got hurt when he was launched into the tree. I find the naked Sewaddle huddled on the root of a tree, shivering with fear and pain.

"Oh my god, Entoi! Look what you've done to this kid!" I try to comfort Faun by wrapping my tail around his body, but he recoils away from the touch, "Do you want your mommy? Where is she?" Entoi is too distracted with his new hat to care about the Sewaddle, shaking like what he was just robbed of. I look around to see if Faun's mom heard the commotion and came over to see what happened, but I don't see any signs of another Pokémon other than us three.

"N-no! I don't want mommy to know I lost my hat again! S-she'd tell me I need to be stronger, and I-I'm trying to be as strong as I can! H-he's too mean to fight, a-and he scares me!" The Sewaddle sniffles a breath, trying to calm himself down, "Wh-when I-I can talk again, I'll t-try to tell you w-what's happening."

"It's fine, take your time. Just try to think of something happy, like your mommy hugging you!" I try to calm the bug.

Faun laughs a little, "No! That w-would hurt!"

I laugh with him, "Okay… Then, what do you like?"

"I like it when I am all the way up in the trees, looking down on the world. Everyone is so small and no one can see me. I can be super powerful and stop Entoi from taking my hat!"

"So, he takes your hat a lot?" I feel like he's already calmed enough to talk.

"Yeah. He's always taking my hats. And he always loses them! I haven't lost a single one, and he's lost every one he's gotten from my mommy! Mommy is telling me to get stronger so I can stop Entoi from taking my things, but I can't. Entoi is too strong and always takes them anyway. I don't know what to do."

"Wow, Entoi sounds really mean. I don't know how I could help deal with him. So, you don't want to talk to your mommy? I'm sure she could help you somehow."

"No! I don't want mommy knowing that he took my hat again!" The Sewaddle repeats, slowly emerging from his ball.

"She's going to have to find out some time, and until she does, you won't have your hat. We aren't strong enough to take it back from Entoi, and it seems that your mommy's hats are special to you."

"Mhmm, they really are. They're so much more comfy and nice than the ones I make." The Sewaddle suddenly jumps up and looks me in the eyes with urgency, "You could talk to him and get him to give it back! It would work!"

"What makes you think he would let me have the hat he just stole from you?" I ask. "It seems like he doesn't care what happens as long as he gets to keep that leaf."

"He likes you a lot more than me and if you are his friend, he might let you have it! Just go to him and be his friend and then you can get me my hat!"

I really want to help the Sewaddle, but at the same time, I'm worried about where Alabaster is and what will happen to him, and I also don't want to act friendly with someone like Entoi. I can't stand people who just do whatever they want and feel like it doesn't cause others harm. From what I've seen of Entoi, I don't like him: that he's not afraid to throw kids through the air to get what he wants, that he doesn't listen to objections to what he's doing, that he makes poor excuses to justify why he does what he does even when it doesn't explain why he did it. Despite my worry for Alabaster and dislike for Entoi, I can't let that Emolga steal Faun's hat, "And you're sure this would work?"

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_**Unnecessary Cliffhanger.**_** It'll probably be another while before the next one, just a little warning to you. Again, thank you for reading this far and I hope you come back for the next one! Feel free to tell me what you think of what's happening here, my PM is open and reviews are also welcome. I'mma go, bye!**


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